Hey all just got this from the sympatico.msn.ca web page thought that some might find it interesting I think this is the first time that I have heard of a PM using his personale plane to evacuate people . Sorry for the long link
PM en route to Cyprus to collect Canadian evacuees
19/07/2006 12:05:46 PM
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Prime Minister Stephen Harper has left France bound for Cyprus, where his Canadian Forces Airbus will be filled with Canadians evacuated from Lebanon for the trip home.
CTV.ca News Staff
Canadian nationals wait to be evacuated on six chartered passenger ships that were positioned off the coast, at Beirut seaport, in Lebanon on Wednesday. (AP / Mahmoud Tawil)
The Airbus, which can carry up to 120 people, was stripped down to hold as many evacuees as possible, said CTV's David Akin, who was with Harper in France.
"He's going to ditch all the media that have travelled with him, ditch the rest of his delegation. Just a skeleton staff, Prime Minister Harper and his wife and about four or five staff, will travel to Cyprus as soon as they can," Akin said earlier Wednesday.
The plane left Paris at 11:45 ET.
Harper believes it's the right decision.
"It's more than a symbolic trip," Harper told reporters at a Paris news conference on Wednesday.
"We will have a significant number of seats. We believe it's the right thing to do."
The flight to Larnaca, Cyprus takes just under four hours, and the Airbus should arrive at about the same time as the first boatload of Canadians evacuated from Beirut.
Another plane has also been chartered and dispatched to Cyprus. Together, the planes should be able to accommodate all the 350 or so evacuees arriving on the first boat.
"This action in and of itself will not resolve the many challenges faced by the thousands of Canadians who may want to leave Lebanon, but it allows us to do what we can with what we have to ensure the safe and secure return of Canadians," Harper said.
Reporters asked Harper why he and his wife weren't also staying behind, in order to free up more seats for evacuees. They were told the prime minister is not permitted to fly on commercial flights for security reasons, but must travel in a Canadian military aircraft.
Concerns about arrival of evacuees
CTV's Dan Matheson, reporting from the port in Larnaca, Cyprus, said there are concerns about how the port will handle the arrival of so many evacuees.
"It's a cargo and a freighter port. They handle very few passengers here. We're a little concerned that the folks here might be overwhelmed if they start wheeling in some ships full of evacuees. The Americans are expecting a big ship with 1,100 people to come in here at about midnight."
By Wednesday morning there was little evidence that preparations were underway to receive the thousands of evacuees expected to begin arriving later on Wednesday, Matheson said.
"Wednesday is some kind of a collective day off here," he told CTV Newsnet.
"The parking lots are empty, there's nobody working here, there's no sign of emergency services, there's no tents, there's no medical facilities, there's no food or water that we can see. What we can see is the world's media here to welcome their nationals."
The Conservative government has been criticized for its slow reaction to the situation in Lebanon, where approximately 30,000 Canadians are trapped as fighting rages between Israel and Hezbollah.
Harper has been meeting with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris today.
Few details have been released about the nature of their talks, though the two leaders reportedly discussed a wide range of bilateral and international issues.
Harper also met with French Premier Dominique de Villepin on Tuesday. During their meeting they discussed the ongoing crisis in Lebanon.
Earlier Wednesday, Harper took phone calls from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Australian PM John Howard.
Olmert reportedly expressed his condolences over the recent deaths of a Canadian family vacationing in Lebanon, and pledged to help evacuate Canadians.
Seven members of the Al-Akhrass family, including four young children, were on vacation when they were killed Sunday as Israel bombed the southern village of Aitaroun.
According to federal officials in Ottawa, Olmert reiterated Israel's desire to avoid unnecessary deaths and said Israel would do whatever it could to facilitate in the evacuation of Canadians.
Howard called Harper asking for help getting Australians out of Lebanon. Harper reportedly promised Canada would do whatever it could.
Speaking in France on Tuesday, Harper defended the Canadian government's response to the crisis.
"There have been literally hundreds of federal employees who have been working day and night for the past several days to put in place the largest evacuation of Canadian citizens from another country in our history,'' Harper said following discussions about the Mideast crisis with de Villepin.
The government has chartered seven ships to take Canadians out of Beirut and ferry them to either Cyprus or Turkey. From there they will be flown home on government-leased jets.
